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Monthly Archives: October 2013

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So Watch_Dogs, Ubisoft’s most anticipated new IP this year, got delayed by over six months. I won’t deny the fact that I’m slightly disappointed because I wanted to try out the game, and especially try out my new Rig on games that come out, I guess I always have Assassins Creed 4: Black Flag for that, but the AC franchise was never something that blew me away visually to be honest.

What intrigues me the most about this delay is that it was done so close to launch. In case someone’s not aware, Watch Dogs was supposed to release just next month, in November! They obviously knew the repercussions to if they went ahead with delaying the game, as Ubisoft’s shares seem to have dropped a whopping 22% after the announcement, which was to be expected. And despite that, Ubisoft seems calm, so I’m going to go ahead and say it without having played the game, that Watch Dogs is probably going to be one hell of a game, rivalling even GTA 5, either that or Ubisoft is utterly stupid, and I sincerely doubt it’s the latter.The reason why it was delayed? I’m guessing it was either broken or they wanted to make it even better and not because of Grand Theft Auto as everyone is presuming, either way though, they have a lot of expectations to live upto now that they’ve delayed the game by almost 6 months, so I’m even more interested in playing this game now! (When it releases ofcourse!!)

Ubisoft posted the following statement from the Watch Dogs development team on the Ubisoft Blog:

“Our ambition from the start with Watch Dogs has been to deliver something that embodies what we wanted to see in the next-generation of gaming. It is with this in mind that we’ve made the tough decision to delay the release until spring 2014.

We know a lot of you are probably wondering: Why now? We struggled with whether we would delay the game. But from the beginning, we have adopted the attitude that we will not compromise on quality. As we got closer to release, as all the pieces of the puzzle were falling into place in our last push before completion, it became clear to us that we needed to take the extra time to polish and fine tune each detail so we can deliver a truly memorable and exceptional experience.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all of you. We thoroughly enjoy and appreciate the way you respond on the web, at events, press conferences and other opportunities we have to interact. Your passion keeps us motivated.

We can’t wait to see you in Chicago next spring. We are confident you’ll love this game as much as we love working on it.”

Ubisoft also released the following separate statement from CEO Yves Guillemot:

“Our long term goal is to win the next generation. The tough decisions we are taking today to fully realize the major potential of our new creations have an impact on our short-term performance. We are convinced that, longer term, they will prove to be the right decisions both in terms of satisfaction for our fans and in terms of value creation for our shareholders. We are building franchises that will become perennial pillars of Ubisoft’s financial performance. In a context of growing successes for mega-blockbusters, the additional time given to the development of our titles will allow them to fulfill their huge ambitions and thus offer players even more exceptional experiences.

Fueled by strong momentum for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, calendar 2014 will see the return of growth to the console market. Combined with the quality of our line-up and our strong financial situation, this growth will allow us to achieve record operating income in fiscal 2014-15 and 2015-16.”

So as most of you already know, I love gaming, And lately I’ve been trying to come up with this website that’s dedicated to gaming and anime (because I love anime too) and ugh…. I’m having such a hard time >_<

It’s so god damn hard to find actual people who love gaming. Not hardcore gamers or casuals, just people who love gaming as a whole and love to talk about video games. Or anime for that matter! Wish there were more people like that =( I feel like an outcast in this world full of people who love everything except the things I love! It would be so fun and wonderful to find someone who’s like me and loves to talk about video games. lol makes me giddy even thinking about it haha. Sigh, one can always wish I suppose. Though there’s no denying it, life would have been a lot better if I grew up with and/or had a close friend who loved to talk about video games. Good friends are hard to find anyways to begin with, so considering that, I guess I should be happy for the fact that I have any to begin with. >_<“

So I was explaining about how and why a PC is better than a console when it comes to being a hardcore gamer, and someone just commented “Console master race”Are you fucking kidding me? 12 year old kids -_-“Everyone knows It’s PC Master Race!! Ffs do you even lft fggt>?

On a more serious note, I’d love to see anyone who says “Console Master Race” Make a video game like Grand Theft Auto or any other Triple A title over the Xbox 360 or Ps3 or the next gen consoles rather than making it over on the PC. xD

So I’m planning on pre-ordering AC4: Black Flag. Mostly because I’m a fanboy of the series and I am biased towards the game, I just love it too much! The hype however, seems to be getting bigger and bigger about this game, and I sincerely think that this might be the assassin who can not only succeed Ezio, but also surpass him in popularity and badassery! And it’s just making me SOO more eager to play the game…. ugh… Wish late November could come sooner >_<“

Talking about the Assassins Creed franchise reminds me about stuff I’d definitely like to see in it’s upcoming games. I would love to see our assassins avatars wear different parts of clothes rather than wearing entire sets which can’t be modified in any way other than colour and also the hat should be a cosmetic item that we can take off whenever we feel like, like a let’s say… “Press H to put your hood down/up” button. I would definitely want to see something like that since it’ll grant players their own unique identity while playing the game. even though everyone would be playing the same character at the end of the day.

A lot of people raise their eyebrows and question me whenever I portray my feelings about video games and how they’re this incredible piece of Art form.
Now I know a lot of you might want to stop reading right about now, but please, carry on. Give it a read and I assure you, it’ll make you think.

Now we all know, in the mainstream world, good art is hard to find because it’s underrated by all the crap that’s out there, be it in music, drawing, graphic designing etc. Now art is in itself, an under appreciated subject when you compare it alongside Science or Commerce/Economics. Atleast that’s the case where I am from, I,e, India.

So my question is, what does it take to be an art form or rather, a work of art. Is it creativity? is it being able to delve into an imaginary world of someone else? is it about music? is it about the design? or is it about painting? Now most people would say it’s about all these things, and that’s probably true! (I say probably because I’m no expert of Art and hence I don’t feel like it’s my right to give it an absolute answer, specially when you consider how art seems to grow every day and incorporate a lot of new things in due time) But these are the same people, at least most of them anyway, who later go on to say that video games are not works of art. Rather, they don’t even try to appreciate it as works of art. Why is this the case? Because video games certainly have all the things we’ve talked about just a while ago, and more so!

Let’s be honest here, in this day and age, gaming is still seen as something that kids do or play when they’re bored and hence, are not meant for the more “mature” adults. Even though the average gamer is infact not a child but an adult between the age of 25-35 years old (I might be off the numbers ever so slightly but it’s around that age) with a solid job. Why is this the case, why is gaming still under appreciated and not seen as a legitimate art form, even though a video game has but, just recently broken 7 world records. Yes we’re talking about that revolutionary video game, or so I like to call it that anyway, Grand Theft Auto 5.

So to conclude this topic, I would just like to say that I know that I have a lot of art oriented people who read my blog, and I would love to encourage you to go and try out a good video game, and see it as a work of art and delve into the imaginary world of someone else. Experience the fantasy first hand with separate music for each and every game playing in the background, always setting the mood according to the stage of gameplay and making the whole experience even better.
See it for what it is today, rather than something that is meant to pre-occupy children while the parents are busy, as is commonly thought; because that was never the case to begin with. Video games were essentially meant to be something that’s solely based around fun, but now they’re so much more than that, that it’s becoming hard to categorize each and every unique idea that comes out of the mainstream gaming companies, let alone the indie gaming industry who’re famous for dishing out games that are so creative and unique that it leaves an imprint in the gaming industry and completely changes how things work! Just like other pieces of art. Video games are essentially a very new form of art that has yet to be recognized as a part of the genre, atleast in the mainstream, and if you give them a chance, I can assure you that you’ll learn to appreciate the intricate beauty the genre holds, if you’re a true lover of art.

So I’m quite interested in a PS4 exclusive game that’s about to come out in the upcoming future, I don’t know if you’ve heard of the game but it’s called The Order: 1886. And from what I could tell from the teaser trailer, it was about warewolves VS humans with a steam-punk-esq fantasy theme going on in the background. This intrigued me quite a lot since I’m interested in all these topics that they’re blending in together into one game and so I’ve been keeping and eye on it and recently, some new information has been posted which excites me even more (I’m a huge fan of the French revolution period)

“The Order: 1886 touches into real history, and twists it a bit. The third character introduced is none other than Marquis de Lafayette, as in, the real Marquis de Lafayette, the man who proved vital in both the American Revolution and the French Revolution. He’s still alive and kicking as of 1886, as is Sebastian Malory, titled Sir Percival, who is a relative of Thomas Malory, the famed British author.”

And that reaction is still lingering and I’m sure it’ll be there by the time this game is released. This is definitely one of those games I’m looking forward to playing when it releases, the concept seems too epic to miss out on. Hopefully, it turns out to be an amazing game and in turn, an amazing experience =)